Electrolysis involves ionizing water by passing an electrical current through water. When water is ionized, the individual water molecules are split into their constituent elements, namely hydrogen ions (H+) and hydroxy ions (OH−).
By creating a preponderance of either negative ions or positive ions in water, desirable effects may be realized. For example, it is believed that charged particles may be drawn from the body by placing a body part, such as the feet, in a water bath having a preponderance of negative ions or of positive ions. For example, metal cations may be attracted to alkaline water, or water in which a preponderance of negative ions has been produced, and may pass through the skin of a user and into the ionized water. Once such ionic foot bath is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,434, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Generally, such therapeutic ionic foot baths may be purchased for use by single user or by a practitioner. When purchased by a single user, the purchaser may purchase the ionic bath device for home use as desired by the user. Alternatively, a practitioner purchaser may set up one or more ionic foot bath systems in a central location, such as a doctor's office, and rent the use of the foot bath to patients that may benefit from the use of the foot bath. For example, the practitioner may sell the use of the foot bath in 30 minute increments to his/her patients as part of an overall wellness and health plan.
Once the ionic foot bath has been sold to the user or practitioner, however, it may be difficult for a third party, such as the foot bath seller or manufacturer, to provide proper maintenance or updates to the foot bath system. For example, routine maintenance of the foot bath system may be required to keep the system operating smoothly. To provide such maintenance, the user may be required to ship the foot bath system to a third party who performs the proper maintenance on the system. However, the shipment of the system to the third party for maintenance may be both costly and inconvenient for the purchaser. Similarly, the foot bath system may include several therapeutic sessions pre-loaded on the system for selection by the user when sold. Any upgrade to alter or include more therapeutic sessions may require the user to return the system to the seller. This may also be a great expense and inconvenience for the user. Thus, what is needed is an ionic foot bath system that includes a control unit that may communicate with a third party. Through the control unit, the ionic foot bath may be monitored or updated remotely from a third party, without the need of shipping the system to the third party.
Further, the purchase of an entire ionic foot bath system may be costly to some practitioner purchasers. Thus, several sessions with the bath may have to be sold to patients before the purchaser begins to see a return on the investment of the purchase of the foot bath system. Thus, what is also needed is a ionic bath system that allows a user to lease the ionic foot bath system and purchase allotments of operational time of the bath as needed. This would allow the practitioner purchaser to provide the wellness and therapeutic benefits of the foot bath system to his/her patients without having to purchase the entire system, thereby reducing the overall costs of the system to the practitioner.